Professor John Rassias punctuates his stories with spontaneous gestures and sporadic onomatopoeia — much like the language instructors who conduct their morning drill sessions using the method Rassias pioneered about 50 years ago.
Rassias came to Dartmouth in 1965 to remodel the College’s language education through his signature method, first developed during a stint as a Peace Corps consultant in the Ivory Coast. Two years later, the drill component of language instruction was created based on Rassias Method techniques.
“If a language is properly treated, I would say that it gives a person a new way of thinking and understanding more than he or she had ever done before,” Rassias said. “For me, that is what languages do — they change our way of seeing the world.”
Half a century later, tucked away on the third floor of the Blunt Alumni Center, the Rassias Center serves as the headquarters for the Rassias Method, which has spread to four continents.
His long tenure at the College is coupled with his experience in the Peace Corps, for which he developed the Peace Corps Language Program in the 1960s. For 50 years, Rassias has traveled the globe, from Canada and Cameroon to Sweden and Micronesia, organizing language teaching workshops for the Peace Corps.
Rassias, who was raised in New Hampshire, attended graduate school in France as a theater and French literature major. Though he was studying and conducting research in France on a Fulbright Scholarship, he aslo made time to act in Paris.
Rassias soon went on to combine these passions through the Rassias Method, which is founded upon the belief that drama is a key factor in ensuring student engagement with learning a language.
Rassias’s combination of drama and language dates to his first day teaching, when he struggled to awaken a room of deadened students. He realized he could use his other great passion to create a method that would transform language education, he recalled.
Pedagogically, he focuses on improving students’ pronunciation and vocabulary, not their grammar.
Students learn best when they are passionate about a topic, but this enthusiasm can only be nurtured if the instructor is also passionate, Rassias said.
Spanish professor Myrna Velez said she is amazed at how much the Rassias Method had improved language education at Dartmouth.
The technique replaced language laboratory work, which required students to listen to prompts with headphones and complete a workbook. Through the Rassias Method, students are actively engaged and are given a voice in the classroom, Velez said.
“Working with a student that is passionate, and working with a small group, allows you to bond and become like a family,” she said.
In 1967, professors led drill, but current drill instructors are native- and second-language students. Velez said leading drill offers students insight into teaching in a welcoming environment.
John Damianos ’16, who has been a Modern Greek and French drill instructor since his first term at Dartmouth and is a non-native French speaker, said he appreciates the opportunity to practice his language skills. Reinforcement is key to learning languages, he said.
“I get to participate actively in learning, which is an amazing experience.” Damianos said, “I work with amazing professors, from whom I’ve learned a lot more than language skills.”
Estefani Marin ’17, a Spanish drill instructor, said she feels drill is the only time when she can speak Spanish comfortably, allowing her to keep in touch with her culture and language.
In addition to teaching a language, drill is also about sharing and discovering a culture, Velez said.
Despite students’ traditional grumbles and complaints that drill consumes an extra hour of their day, often early in the morning, students said that they value the extra practice it provides.
Drill makes students use the grammar and speech patterns they learn in the classroom in a more realistic, conversational setting, drill student Jack Foley ’14 said.
Josh Perez ’17, who is currently learning Spanish, said drill is one of the most enjoyable and effective components of language learning at Dartmouth.
“It’s not just problem solving but the creation of speaking,” Perez said. “I would say it is almost vital to learning a language.”
